Cloning a virtual machine is useful in a number of scenarios. For example, if you want to do some experiments with a virtual machine configuration or want to test the different guest operating systems or want to take the backup a VM, creating a clone of a virtual machine would be a wise decision. This feature is available in the all major virtualization vendors including Microsoft, VMware, and VirtualBox. In this post, we will explain how to clone virtual machine in VirtualBox.

Full Clone vs Linked Clone

Before cloning a VirtualBox virtual machine, first, we would like to explain the different types of cloning modes of VirtualBox. There are two types of Clone Modes in VirtualBox: Full Clone and Linked Clone.

Full Clone: If you create a clone using this mode, all the depending disk images will be copied to the new destination folder. The cloned VM can fully operate without the need of the source VM.

Linked Clone: If you create a cloned VM using the linked mode, the new differencing disk images will be created and the parent disk images will remain the source disk images. A linked VM cannot be operated without the source VM.

Note: The time of creating a clone virtual machine depends on the size and the number of attached disk images.

Creating a cloned virtual machine

To clone a VirtualBox virtual machine, you need to perform the following steps:

In the VirtualBox Manager console, select and right-click the virtual machine that you want to clone and then select Clone.

In the Clone Virtual Machine window, specify the name of clone virtual machine. Click Next to proceed.

To view the advanced cloning options, click Expert Mode. Here, you will see some additional options. Select the clone type that you want to use. If you want to generate a new MAC address for the cloning VM, select the Reinitialize the MAC address of all network cards option, else the MAC address will remain same for all the clone virtual machines.

Finally, click the Clone button to create the Clone VM. A new clone VM will be created in the VirtualBox Manager console. The Linked clone VM takes just a few seconds; however, a Full clone VM may take several minutes depending on the size of virtual hard disk images as discussed earlier.

Once you created a clone of a virtual machine, you can use the cloned virtual machine as a separate virtual machine in VirtualBox.

That’s all you need to know about how to clone a virtual machine. Do share the article if you think it may help to others.

As discussed earlier, installing VirtualBox Extension Pack adds some additional functionalities and features to VirtualBox virtual machines. One of those features is the Encrypted virtual machine. This feature allows you to secure a VirtualBox virtual machine by encrypting the entire virtual machine. In this post, we will explain how to encrypt and decrypt a VirtualBox virtual machine.

You can also encrypt a VMware virtual machine if you are using the VMware platform. However, you may need to
adjust some of the steps to encrypt a VMware virtual machine. Whenever someone starts the encrypted virtual machine he/she requires to know the encryption key used at the time of encrypting the virtual machine. The encrypted virtual machine feature works in the same way as does the BitLocker feature in the latest Windows operating systems.

Encrypting VirtualBox Virtual Machine

Before to encrypt a VirtualBox virtual machine, first, you need to ensure that you have installed the compatible version of VirtualBox Extension Pack. After that, you need to perform the following steps:

Ensure that the virtual machine that you want to encrypt is powered off. Now, open the Settings of the virtual machine and select the Encryption tab under the General tab.

Select the Enable Encryption option, select the Encryption Cipher method, and set the desired encryption key.

Click OK to start the encryption process. The encryption process may take several minutes depending on the size of the virtual machine’s disk image.

Once the virtual machine is encrypted, it will ask to enter encryption key at every start up. Simply type your encryption key and use the virtual machine.

If someone does not know the encryption key, he/she cannot open the encrypted virtual machine.

Disabling VirtualBox Encryption Feature

If you no longer want to encrypt a virtual machine, you can disable this feature. To remove the encryption, uncheck the Enable Encryption check box in the virtual machine’s Settings window.

That’s all you need to do to encrypt a VirtualBox virtual machine. There are still a lot more to learn for you. Just visit the Getting Started with VirtualBox step by step guide.

In the previous posts, we have explained a lot about the VirtualBox. In this post, we will explain how to install Windows 10 in VirtualBox. This is the fourth article of the Getting Started With VirtualBox step by step guide that contains the following step by step tutorials:

Installing Guest OS in VirtualBox

VirtualBox supports a wide range of guest operating systems. However, in this post, we will focus on installing Windows 10 on VirtualBox. Installing Windows 10 on VirtualBox is almost similar as we install it on the other virtualization platforms such as Hyper-V and VMware Workstation/Player. To install Windows 10 on VirtualBox, you need to perform the following steps:

Since in the previous post, we have already created a new virtual machine in VirtualBox, hence we will continue to use the same virtual machine for this post. To install Windows 10 on VirtualBox, you need to perform the following steps:

First of all, you need the installation media (DVD or ISO) of the guest operating system that you want to install on VirtualB0ox. In this case, Windows 10. The most comfortable installation media is ISO. The following figure shows the Windows 10 VM.

To use an ISO image file as an installation source media, click Devices and navigate to Choose disk image option in the VirtualBox VM console. Browse and select the desired ISO image (Windows 10) that you want to use as an installation source.

You may need to reset the virtual machine to restart it if the booting failed message appears. Once the virtual machine has reset, the Windows Setup screen will be displayed.

The installation process is pretty straightforward, just follow the on-screen instructions and complete the installation. However, if you are new to the Windows 10 installation. We have explained all the steps in detail. Keep continue to follow the steps.

On the next Windows Setup screen, click Install Now to proceed.

On the Activate Windows screen, either type the product key if you have or click I don’t have a product key to continue with the evaluation version.

On the next screen, select the desired edition of the Windows 10 operating system and click Next to proceed.

On the License terms page, you know what should you do. Accept the license terms and click Next to proceed.

On the next screen, there are two options: Upgrade and Custom.

Upgrade: Select the Upgrade option if you have an earlier version of Windows OS such as Windows 7 or 8 to want to upgrade to Windows 10.

Custom: For the clean and fresh installation, select the Custom option and proceed to next.

On the disk partition screen, select an existing partition or create a new one and then click Next to proceed.

The installation process starts. It may take 10-15 minutes depending on your system performance. After some time the Get going fast screen Click Use express settings to proceed.

On the next screen, fill the required details to create a user account. Click Next to proceed.

After some time, the Desktop screen displays. Thus completes the installation process of Windows 10 in VirtualBox. Keep continue to use your Windows 10 virtual machine or power off it to perform the next exercise.

In this post, we have explained a step by step guide to install Windows 10 in VirtualBox. We will use this virtual machine to explain the next step by step tutorials. Stay connected to learn more!

There are various setting options in VirtualBox that can be used to customize and tune a virtual machine. Here, we will cover up all the VirtualBox virtual machine settings options one by one. As you know, this is the third article of our Getting Started With VirtualBox step by step guide. In case if you missed the previous posts, we recommend you to read those posts, so you can understand the setup we are using.

The complete Getting Started With VirtualBox guide contains the following topics:

To configure the various Virtual Machine Settings in VirtualBox, we will perform the following step by step tasks:

Configuring General Settings in VirtualBox VM

First of all, open the Settings window for the desired virtual machine. To open the virtual machine settings in VirtualBox, select the virtual machine and then click Settings.

On the Settings window, the first section is the General The General section has four additional tabs that allow you to set the various settings. The Basic tab allows you to specify the virtual machine name, vendor type, and the version of guest OS.

The next tab is the Advanced It allows you to specify the snapshot folder location and drag-and-drop option between the host and guest machines.

The next tab is the Description tab that is self-explanatory.

The next tab is the Encryption tab. It is almost similar to the BitLocker feature of Windows. It allows you to encrypt a VirtualBox virtual machine. We will cover this feature in the later section.

Configuring System Settings in VirtualBox

Now comes to the System section. The first tab of the System section is Motherboard. Two of the major settings in this section are Base memory and Boot order. The boot order option is important as it allows you set the desired boot option through which the installation of the guest operating system will be done. For now, select the Optical option and move it to one step up.

Next, select the Processor tab. Here, you can set the number of virtual CPUs for the selected VM and enable the NX bit (something that enforces to enable DEP on Windows systems).

Next, select the Acceleration tab. This tab allows you to enable the hardware virtualization and the para-virtualization settings.

Configuring Display Settings in VirualBox

The next section is the Display section. The Screen tab of this section allows you to set the video memory, enable the 3D acceleration, and 2D video acceleration.

The next tab is the Remote Display tab. This tab allows you to set the settings related to the remote connection. However, you need to download and install the compatible version of VirtualBox Extension Pack to use this feature. Installation of VirtualBox Extension Package has been covered in the later section.

The last tab of this section is the Video Capture tab. It is pretty disappointed that the latest version of VMware Workstation no longer allows to capturing the videos of lab exercises. However, VirtualBox now supports this feature that allows you to capture the live steps in a video file. This is really helpful for the training and learning purposes. Review the video capturing options.

Configuring Storage settings in VirtualBox

The next section is the Storage section. Here, you can customize the settings related to the storage devices such as HDD, VHD, and CD/DVD.

Enabling Audio in VirtualBox Virtual Machine

If you want to use the audio feature of your host machine on the VirtualBox virtual machine, select the Enable Audio check box in the Audio section.

Configuring Network Settings in VirtualBox

Understanding network connection type is one of the most essential tasks for every system, server, and network administrator. The Network section allows you to attach the VirtualBox virtual machine to the desired network. Choose the network type that fulfills your requirement.

Configuring Serial Ports Settings in VirtualBox

The Serial Ports section displays the serial posts and their related settings. If required, select the desired settings for the serial ports.

Configuring USB Devices in VirtualBox

The USB section allows you add and remove the USB devices to the VirtualBox virtual machine. The default supported USB version is Version 1.1. In order to use the latest version of USB devices (USB 3.0), you need to download and install VirtualBox Extension Pack.

Configuring Shared Folders in VirtualBox

The next section is the Shared Folders It allows you to share files between host and guest operating systems. To add a shared folder, click the add icon and select the folder of the host machine that you want to share with the selected virtual machine. Specify the folder name. There are two more options in the Add Share dialog box that you should know: Read-only and Auto-mount.

Read-only: Select the Read-only option if you want to share this folder with the read-only permission.

Auto-mount: If you want to mount the shared folder as a network drive automatically inside the virtual machine, select the Auto-mount option.

Configuring User Interface Settings in VirtualBox

The last section is the User Interface It allows you change the settings that affect the user’s behavior and lookup of the virtual machine.

That’s all about the configuring virtual machine settings in VirtualBox. Hope, you have got the basic idea of the virtual machine settings in VirtualBox. As much as you work with VirtualBox, you will become the master of VirtualBox.